1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to newly isolated aminosterol compounds. Such aminosterol compounds are useful in a variety of pharmaceutical compositions as well as methods of treatment of various disorders such as, for example, a microbial infection.
2. Description of the Related Art
Over the past several years an increasing number of low molecular weight antibiotics have been isolated from diverse species of vertebrate animals such as frogs (Zasloff, 1987), pigs (Lee et al., 1989), mice (Ouellette et al., 1989) and humans (Jones et al., 1992). These antibiotic agents, including peptides (Steiner et al., 1981; Ganz et al., 1985; Zasloff, 1987), lipids (Kabara et al., 1977; Bibel et al., 1989) and alkaloids (Daly et al., 1987; Preusser et al., 1975), are believed to play a major role in host defense against environmental microbes.
The search for novel host defense agents led to the discovery of the aminosterol squalamine. Squalamine was isolated from the dogfish shark Squalus acanthias and proved to be active as a broad-spectrum antibiotic. U.S. Pat. No. 5,192,756. Squalamine also exhibited interesting antiangiogenic and antitumor properties. Attempts to isolate large amounts of squalamine have now led to the discovery, isolation and purification of several new aminosterol compounds which are the subject of the present invention.
The invention provides newly isolated aminosterol compounds and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof.
The invention further provides pharmaceutical compositions comprising at least one aminosterol compound of the invention or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.
The invention further provides a method of treating a microbial infection comprising administering a therapeutically effective amount of at least one aminosterol compound of the invention or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof.